Iqbal Barkat wrote his PhD on novelty in cinema, tracing the history through from the work of Dziga Vertov, a pioneering film-maker in the early Soviet Union.

As part of his research he has produced the independent feature film Mortars, which seeks to explore what Robert Koehler calls the 'cinema of in-between-ness' - refusing categories of fiction or non-fiction. It follows the life of a woman whose house was destroyed by demolition exercises carried out by the Australian Defence Force. She has lived in a broken house for over fifty years and is still seeking reparations.

His research interests include Independent Cinema; Early Soviet Cinema; Dance; Community Filmmaking; The Cinematic Practice of Dziga Vertov; The Philosophy of Alain Badiou.